Reading and Leeds festivals are set to take place this weekend, and we’ve put together some cool festival facts ahead of the weekend.

And River Island has created a series of amazing images contrasting how some of the UK's most famous festivals have changed over the years.

The two events take place simultaneously at separate sites. The Reading Festival takes place at Little John's Farm in central Reading, while the Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, the grounds of a historic house.

Reading Festival started life as The National Jazz and Blues festival in the early 1960s. With the emergence of British Rock and Roll, it went more mainstream featuring legendary acts such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Traffic and The Small Faces.

It didn’t officially become The Reading Festival until 1971 when the event moved location. By the 1980s the event accommodated 30,000 music fans and a ticket was priced at £15.50.

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The festival almost came to an end in the 1980s after a continued dispute with the local council, who effectively banned the festival in 1984 and 1985. The dispute only ended when the Conservative council were replaced by Labour in 1986.

The festival is known for its discerning audience, and has a history of performers being pelted with bottles.

Organisers tried to go a bit more mainstream for the 1988 event, booking acts such as Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf.

Bestival–2000s–helping to kick off the boutique festival revolution (Image: River Island)

Isle of Wight –1960s – the birth of the British music festival as we know it (Image: River Island)

Both were pelted with objects, with Meat Loaf being struck by a full 2-litre bottle of cider, which as well as common assault, is a total waste of perfectly good cider. Other victims of this treatment include 50 Cent and Panic! At the Disco.

Grunge icons Nirvana played their last ever UK gig at the 1992 festival, before lead singer Kurt Cobain died in 1994.

Flags were banned from the festival in 2009.

The Leeds leg of the festival was added in 1999 after Reading’s continued success. The festival’s popularity has continued, and it now accommodates more than 100,000 people, with a ticket costing £205, a price rise of roughly 1,200 percent.

Reading 1980s and now

T in the Park - Cool Britannia (Image: River Island)

But Reading isn’t the only festival to have seen a huge rise in prices and attendees:

Glastonbury Festival started in 1970 with the title of ‘The Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk Festival’ and attracted 1,500 people, a far cry from the 135,000 revellers who descend on Worthy Farm today. Tickets were priced at £1, and included a free pint of milk.

Glastonbury Festival 1970s and now

These days, tickets for the festival are in huge demand, often selling out within minutes of going on sale. Those lucky enough to get one will have to fork out £248, a whopping 27,000 percent increase on the original price - you don’t even get any free milk!

Elsewhere, the original Isle of Wight Festival ran between 1968 and 1970, hosting legendary acts such as The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, with tickets costing £2.50.

The festival was then revived in 2002, and has run every year since, proving a huge success. A ticket in 2019 would have cost you £175 a price increase of more than 7,000 percent.

Reading and Leeds Festivals will start on Friday. The 1975, Foo Fighters, Post Malone, and Twenty One Pilots are all set to perform.